


Not a Good Bedtime Story

by SPAceRangEr_Herman



Category: Veronica Mars (TV)
Genre: AU if you read it that way, Anger, Angry Veronica, Emotional Hurt, Fairytale elements, Mean Logan, Not a feel-good story, Pre-Season/Series 01, Verbal Humiliation, seems fitting for a broken show
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-10
Updated: 2021-03-10
Packaged: 2021-03-16 20:54:17
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,524
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29955735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SPAceRangEr_Herman/pseuds/SPAceRangEr_Herman
Summary: Once upon a time, in the seaside town of Neptune, there lived a girl by the name of Veronica.A brief encounter of tough, young Veronica with those that lurk in the night.
Comments: 2
Kudos: 4





	Not a Good Bedtime Story

Once upon a time, in the seaside town of Neptune, there lived a girl by the name of Veronica. She was fair and small in stature, but her passion and wit made her feel eight feet tall. This girl was only sixteen and she lived a decent life with her knight-in-shining-armor, her dad Keith. Together, the two did their best to defeat the evil that lurked just under the surface of the pageantry exulted by the royalty and nobility that ruled over the southern edges of the coast.  
  
Our story begins with the brave, young Veronica at the gates of Camelot. No, not the mighty castle or kingdom, but a place of lodging one could lease for a night for some small change. She stands in triumph, as she had followed her mark to this destination, a man whose marriage vows he apparently no longer deemed sacred. Once Veronica shares her discovery, the older gentleman's downtrodden wife will finally have her leverage in their household, unless her husband wants an unpleasant visit from the violent ruffian that is the father of his night's willing entertainment calling on his doorstep.  
  
Yes. Nothing made Veronica happier than knowing that the people who do bad things to others get their comeuppance from those they prey on. Her father taught her from a young age that life is not always balanced and that bad people don't always get punished and good people can get hurt without provocation. That's just how it is. But Veronica knows that it doesn't always have to stay that way. When people of intelligence, bravery, and compassion, like her father, use their position of power, though meager it is in comparison to those on top, to protect and rectify injustices of the lower gentry, it makes them a true hero. And Veronica wants to be that more than anything else in the world.  
  
The moment Veronica decides to safely make her way home, she hears a loud noise from the street behind her. She jumps into action and starts swiftly making her way in the opposite direction from where she needs to go, but away from the commotion. Veronica knows how dangerous the lower city gets at nightfall; her father has lectured her enough times that she could recite his usual condemnation speech backwards. She simply lost track of the time.  
  
Veronica takes an abrupt turn down an alley, hoping to shave a few minutes from her walk. In her distraction, she forgets to check if the coast was clear before she left the relative safety of the lit street and she walks right into a mess of trouble. A very unladylike word escapes her lips before she can stop its escape. She suddenly finds herself the sole focus of three, five, eight young men, all idly sitting or leaning against their parked rides. The leader, Eli, catches her eye as he puts out his cigarette. He begins to taunt her as he approaches, the others rising from their prone positions. Veronica holds her head high and returns a steely gaze, determined not to show intimidation.  
  
Eli asks what she's doing in this part of town as he flips the ends of her long, blond hair over her shoulder. She doesn't answer as he drops his fingers to pull lightly at the lip of her satchel against her hip, attempting to peek inside. Veronica chooses this moment to quickly bring her arms up and push him off balance and run back the way she came.  
  
A hand yanks on the ends of her hair but she pulls away with a painful winch and keeps pumping her strong legs until she can't hear over the sound of her harsh breaths. Veronica's instincts lead her to the closest building with plenty of lights and people. She shoves her shoulder against the solid door to get inside the building, ignoring all the toes she steps on and people she bangs into. Once she clears it to the opposite corner of the room she finally stops and leans against the wall to catch her breath.  
  
She's in the process of figuring out her next move when she hears a male voice call out her name in the form of a question. Her eyes slide up and over the room, only to realize that the public building she ran blindly into wasn't some bar or open-late eating establishment, oh no, it was a burlesque club. Her luck tonight was outstanding.  
  
Her gaze is caught on the nearest dancer before she remembers someone who knows her name is here, in this room. She freezes. There is absolutely no one she does know that she wants to be seen in here by, or by anyone she doesn't have any acquaintances with, for that matter. She needs to get out, now, before this gets any worse.  
  
Veronica keeps her head down as she heads for the only public exit. Once she's by the door, she peeks out into the street, trying to see if there are any of Eli's black-jacketed guys waiting for her.  
  
A hand pulls her back by the shoulder and Veronica lets out an involuntary shriek. She's turned around and her eyes encounter a broad chest in a simple long-sleeved shirt. She tilts her head up and she chokes on her next breath when she makes eye contact with none other than the big bad wolf himself, Logan Echolls. Oh my, what a large grin he has.  
  
"What's your song?" he asks. Veronica only blinks at him in confusion, not giving him the satisfaction of a response.  
  
He continues, undaunted, "Come on, if you make me guess it before the performance, I'll tip you less."  
  
Veronica scoffs in disgust and rolls her eyes. "Only in your dreams, Echolls," she dismisses him as she turns away. Taking her chances outside in the open, she determines, is better than any space that forces her to share the same breathable air as him.  
  
As soon as she pushes the heavy door open, she starts a determined march on her roundabout but safer way home. Unfortunately, her night doesn't seem to be getting any better any time soon because not even halfway down the same block, Logan catches up to her and begins to walk backwards ahead of her.  
  
"Nothing good happens to young girls walking alone at night," he says simply, talking to the air in front of him.  
  
"Case in point," she replies, "strange men will stalk them when they clearly don't want them around."  
  
Logan abruptly stops and swings around to walk a foot away from her but facing the same direction. "The lady doth protest too much. I'm simply heading home myself and performing my gentlemanly duty of escorting a maiden on a perilous trek through the disreputable parts of the derelict." Veronica knows that if she looked at his face, his eyebrows would be raised in an expression of exaggerated benevolence in contrast to his pompous words.  
  
"If that helps you sleep at night," she shrugs, "I thought only young children needed methods of self-soothing to fall asleep alone."  
  
"I can't say I would know, I don't sleep alone all that often," he volleys back; "I tend to tire out my companions pretty thoroughly."  
  
"I think the adverb you were looking for was 'abruptly' and I would fall asleep fast too if I had to listen to you talk for more than five minutes," Veronica says as she squints to read the next street sign. She’s almost home.  
  
"So you thought of us together in the same bed, have you?" he says with mocking glee. "I guess the JV team isn't performing to your standards anymore? Or was it the theater students? I can't keep track nowadays." Veronica's eyes mist over and she balls her hands into fists but gives him no response to his taunt. She picks up her pace.  
  
"Why can't you just leave me alone?" Veronica spits out just loud enough for him to hear. "Go home!"  
  
She finally reaches the front gate to her walkway and swings it open and then watches it satisfactorily slam closed in Logan's face. The last expression she sees on his face is a mask, there's no emotion except for an intense and dark penetrating look. Veronica doesn't move and a moment later she hears him reply sarcastically, "As you wish."  
  
Veronica holds in her tears until she's safe and enclosed in her room. She hugs her pillow to her chest and releases her pain in solitude. She's angry at herself for being weak, for missing the life she used to have. You see, she once was close friends with Logan. And even the prince of Neptune himself, Duncan Kane, who now treats her like she's a ghost. But due to forces outside of her control she lost more than one friend the day Lilly Kane was killed. Her life has not been the same and it can never go back to the way it was.  
  
She gets a fresh lesson each and every day in this new normal. Life isn't fair and not everyone gets their happy ending.


End file.
